Pages

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Vegan Adventures Close To Home: La Belle Verte

I had Friday off last week, which meant I had a super-mega-long weekend, what with Labour Day and everything. Sadly, I knew most of the weekend would be dedicated to packing up/organizing things in our soon-to-be-abandoned home. To keep from going mental, I decided that Friday was to be filled with fun activities rather than responsible ones. And what a good idea that was! Friday was a wonderful day that started with pancakes and ended with beer and somewhere in the middle was lunch at La Belle Verte in Hull, Quebec, a (mostly) raw vegan restaurant that I'd never actually been to before.

Friday was hot and sunny so Krishna and I (in our matchy vegan hemp sneakers. Nerds!) got on our bikes and cycled over the bridge to Quebec. It only took about fifteen minutes to get to the restaurant, which made us wonder even more why we'd never been there before. It was about 12:30 when we arrived and the place was packed! We wedged ourselves (and our cameras and bike helmets) into a small table for two and studied the menu. The food on offer is all vegan and mostly raw, but there are some cooked options like a noodle bowl and a variety of sandwiches. There are also daily smoothies and desserts. They were out of that day's green smoothie, so we just stuck with water to drink. Most of the dishes can include a side salad for a few extra dollars.

Krishna ordered this raw greek pizza dish with salad. She gave me one of the pieces to try and it was really flavourful. I'm always suspicious of non-traditional pizzas (even though being vegan means I don't eat regular pizza anymore!) but this had a lot of the same flavours as traditional pizza, what with the raw tomato sauce and herbs. There was also a creamy texture from cashew cheese. Tons of flavour, lots of different elements.

This was my meal, a raw quiche with salad. I was expecting it to look much different, more like the raw cheesecakes that I've had in the past, but then the server did warn us "it's not like a regular quiche!" It wasn't, but it was amazingly delicious regardless. Lots of great flavours, mostly nut-based ingredients, and a variety of textures. I ate it all. The salad was fresh and tasty as well, but I left my pile of sprouts on my plate because they are satan.

We had dessert, of course. All in the name of a full experience of a new restaurant. Krishna had this raw tropical cheesecake which had chunks of pineapple and mango in it. I was glad she wanted that one because chunks of fruit in things do not appeal to me. I am a texture wimp. She said it was delicious. I didn't ask to try any. Besides I was busy with my own dessert.

This was more my kind of thing! A raw chocolate strawberry cake. The pink colour was only the top layer, the rest was creamy chocolate. Yum. I love raw desserts. There were also raw tarts and brownies on display, which gives me something to look forward to next time.

The place itself is very cute, clean, and comfortable. The kitchen is open and there's a lot of natural light. Plus there are lots of little owl sculptures everywhere, which I found adorable. All in all, a super fun lunch adventure and not at all far from central Ottawa. I can't wait to go back.